The tool is useful for researching the competition and uncovering new keywords.

For this review, I purchased the 3-day trial which set me back $6.95.

When you first visit SpyFu, you notice that you can find plenty of keywords and information for free, without having to subscribe. So what’s the benefit of a subscription?

For one, you get a lot more data (the free version gives you just the top 10 keywords for any competitor). With the subscription, you can export thousands of keywords via excel.

You also get to see more competitors for any keyword, browse all the ads that are running for any PPC competitor, and see more related keyword terms.

I compared some of the competitive data that SpyFu provides with my actual campaign statistics, and noticed that SpyFu is not really accurate. For example, one of my clients spends about $300/day on Adwords, and SpyFu says the daily budget is $3.32. I performed another search for a different domain and also noticed inaccuracies with the reporting.

Now, that’s not to say SpyFu isn’t useful. In fact, typing in a domain and seeing ALL the PPC ad text that a competitor is running is extremely useful. I'm using this feature to research niches, discover new keywords, and help me create more ad creative’s for split testing.

It also shows me the destination URL for each ad, so I can see how my competition is utilizing landing pages.

Another way to use the data is to view the “Top Organic Competitors” for a competitor’s domain, and then export all the domains listed into Adwords Editor. I use the domains as keywords. So for example, if someone types in “competitor.com” into Google, my ad appears. It’s an easy way to get cheap clicks, since usually there’s not a lot of competition for these keywords.

The “Organic Results” gives a list of keyword phrases that a domain appears for in the top 10 of natural search. So if you do a search on Google for the keyword, you will find them listed organically. These make good keywords to add to your PPC campaigns.

Overall, I would say SpyFu definitely has it’s advantages, with the best feature being the ability to see every keyword the competition is bidding on, the ad text, and the landing page destination URL they are using.

SpyFu is worth a try for $6.95 for a 3-day trial.. If you like the results, then extend your membership.

Quotes:

"SpyFu monitors nearly 4.5 million domains, showing you
exactly how much your competitors are paying for search
advertising on a daily basis, the total number of clicks they
are receiving, and their average ad position. SpyFu also reveals
the exact keywords that your competitors are ranking for in
organic search and who their top 100 competitors are."-Kim Roach, sitepronews.com